An IWC is not a mass product. This can be verified anytime
in the manufacturer's "pedigree ledger". Since 1882 IWC has been engraving
an individual serial number and the caliber designation on each IWC movement
and also entering by hand in the pedigree ledger all the details about the
reference number, caliber, material, case number, delivery date from the
factory and the recipient.

Since the masterpieces from Schaffhausen often become heirlooms, descendants
or later purchasers can always obtain from IWC the exact data on any IWC
watchThe IWC line includes both men's and women's designs.
Additionally, there is a full line of matching and color-coordinated watch
straps to supplement your watch purchase.

The case number 1107985 of a world famous owner of an IWC
pocket watch: Sir Winston Churchill. Eight Swiss Physicians presented this
time piece to him on the occasion of his now famous address in the Great
Hall at Zurich University on September 19, 1946. In the pedigree book there
is the entry: the watch (movement # 955025) left the factory on November
11,1944. Its scheduled date for re-testing was November 2000, it made it to
the appointment.

IWC offers men's watches and pocket watches, they also produce a women's line.

IWC History

In the 1860's an American was to make a lasting impression
on the Swiss watch scene visited Switzerland with the idea of setting up a
watch factory to take advantage of the lower wage rates and the local
expertise. In 1869 Florentine Ariosto Jones from Boston settled in
the Schaffhausen in eastern Switzerland---an unlikely spot, far from the
traditional watchmaking centers of Geneva and the Jura--where he was
offered a factory with hydro-electric power from the Rhine. Jones, who had
visions of exporting his products back to the US called his company the
International Watch Co.

The survival of the company owes much to a talented
watchmaker, Urs Haenggi, who joined in 1883 and stayed the rest of his
life. He put the companies affairs in order and introduced new calibers to
the products. Rauschenbachs son and successor had proved of little help,
but his granddaughter Bertha had married Ernst Homberger, a Schaffhausen
industrialist, who in 1905 was awarded powers of attorney to act for
members of the family, which included Bertha's elder sister and her husband
C.G. Jung, the famous Psychiatrist.

Ernst Homberger took over the running of the business in 1929 and renamed
it Uhrenfabrik Ernst Homberger Rauschenbach; when his father-in-law died,
Ernst dropped his name from the title. In the mid-1950's Ernst's son Hans
took control; an Anglophile who had rowed at Henley, he renamed it
International Watch Co. HE Homberger AG. He was the last private owner.
Since 1978, when the Swiss watch industry was in serious trouble and the
company was rescued by an injection of capital from VDO, a German
industrial conglomerate, IWC has been known once more by Jones original
title International Watch Co.

Since its early days, IWC has made watchmaking history. Jones original 19
ligne calibers, one of the first to feature crown winding, are collectors
treasures. In 1885 the company produced the first-ever pocket watch with
digital hour and minute displays. In 1890 saw its first Grande
Complication, with 1,000 parts that took a year to assemble and finish
totally by hand. IWC was among the first to make wristwatches based on one
of their ladies pocket watches, and it supplied marine chronometers to
several of the worlds Navies.

The mid 1930's saw the launch of its first wristwatch designed specially
for pilots. Its movement protected against magnetic fields, a feature which
was incorporated into the famous Ingenieur line with its soft iron inner
case and ability to withstand 500,000 a/m.